Automatic skip-tab tabulating mechanism for accounting machines



Sept. 1, 1953 w. H. VON HACHT AUTOMATIC'SKIP-TAB TABULATING MECHANISM FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 30, 1948 T M Y M M w 1 2 M A M W Sept. 1, 1953 w. H. VON HACHT AUTOMATIC SKIP-TAB TABULATING MECHANISM FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 30, 1948 INVENTOR WILL/AM H. VONHACHT BY 22m 4. 7 Arrow P 1953 w H. VON HACHT 2,650,758

AUTOMATIC SKIP-TAB TABULATING MECHANISM FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES. Filed Dec. 30, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN TOR. WILL/AM H. VO/Vl-lACf/T t ATTOQNE Y Sept. 1, 1953 w AUTOMATIC SKIP VON HACHT 2,650,758 TAB TABULATING MECHANISM 7 FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES Filed Dec. 30, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 a an Haw m H use;

INVEN TOR WILLIAM H. VON HAcHT BY J I 2m l.

A TTOBNEY Miami USA 265:

Patented Sept. 1, 1953 AUTOMATIC SKIP-TAB TABULATIN G MECH- ANISM FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES William H. von Hacht, Bronxville, N. Y., assignor to Underwood Corporation, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of Delaware Application December 30, 1948, Serial No. 68,182

14 Claims. 1

This invention relates to accounting machines, and more particularly to the type having a traveling paper carriage supporting a plurality of paper forms to receive entries as the carriage advances from one columnar position to the next.

In many types of accounting work it is desirable to print more than one copy of some or all of the entered amounts and their totals. This is customarily done through the use of carbon paper or other duplicating means. There are instances, .however, where it is more desirable that two of the forms be placed in the carriage side by side so that entries on the right-hand form will be made by separate operations of the machine after the corresponding entries have been made on the left-hand form. One reason for this arrangement is that it may be desirable to have original ribbon impressions on both of the forms. Another reason is that it may be more practical to print on the two forms side by side than to handle the necessary carbon paper. Still another reason may be that it would conserve printing space on one of the forms to handle them in this manner. In the last instance, should one of the forms in use require the printing of totals only, while the other form requires the printing of items as well as totals, it is necessary to use only a single printing line on the form requiring totals only, if this form is printed separately. When so arranged, the conventional split type of platen is used, so that the form requiring the printing of items may be advanced after the printing of each item, while that not requiring the printingof items may remain stationary. Such an arrangement is disclosed herein.

Where forms are so arranged side by side, and the totals of the items entered in the columns of the left-hand form are to be printed in corresponding columns on the right-hand form, the printing on the right-hand form is customarily done completely automtaically by the common practice of entering the items in registers as they are indexed on the keyboard and printed, and thereafter printing the totals from these registers in the appropriate columns on the right-hand sheet under the control of lugs or tappets on the traveling paper'carriage.

In some types of work, such as department store billing, certain of the columns on the forms are quite frequently not used. For instance, if, during the month for which the bill is rendered, the customer has made no payment on his account, or has not returned any merchandise to the store for credit, these two columns on the form will not be used. Therefore, when the operator finishes listing the purchases made during the month, he depresses the conventional Express Tab. key to cause the carriage to be tabulated through the Payments and Returns columns, to the Balance Due column, where the carriage control mechanism causes the machine to automatically print the customers new balance. The machine then continues the automatic operation, printing the totals, on the right-hand form, of the amounts printed in the columns on the lefthand form. In this instance, since no amounts were entered in the Payments and Returns columns on the left-hand form, zeros will appear in the corresponding columns of the right-hand form.

Since in most instances the printing of these zeros serves no useful purpose, the time consumed by the machine being operated in these columns, together with the resultant wear and tear on the machine, is wasted.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a means to cause the carriage, during its automatic operations on the right-hand form, to be arrested in only those columns of this form where an amount is to be printed.

With this and incidental objects in View, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combination of parts, the essential elements of which are set forth in appended claims, and a preferred form of embodiment of which is hereinafter described with reference to the drawings which accompany and form part of the specification.

In the drawings:

Figs. 1A and 13 form a perspective view of the mechanism for releasing the column skip cams from operative position.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the amount keyboard and its connection to the column skip cam releasing mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a right side elevation of a carriage control magazine, its skip cam slide, parts of the releasing mechanism and the resetting mechanism therefor, the resetting mechanism being shown in the position it assumes while a released skip cam slide is moving past it during the working stroke of the carriage.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the resetting mechanism moving a released skip cam to reset position.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a control magazine, a skip cam slide and the resetting mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the control magazines, the skip cams pertinent to the present invention, a part of the releasing mechanism, a part of the resetting mechanism, parts of the printing mechanism and a set of printed forms in proper spaced relation to each other and to the machine parts.

This invention is an improvement on the mechanisms shown in U. S. Patents Nos. 2,194,270 and 2,209,240 issued to Oscar J. Sundstrand on March 19, 1940 and July 23, 1940, respectively, U. S. Patents Nos. 2,084,519, 2,226,960, 2,255,557 and 2,318,448 issued to Walter A. Anderson on June 22, 1937, December 31, 1940, September 9, 1941 and May 4, 1943, respectively, and U. S. application No. 679,722 of Walter A. Anderson, filed June 27, 1946, now Patent No. 2,536,524.

The machine includes the customary keyboard with Amount keys, Date keys, Totalizer, Signal and Tabulating control keys. It has the customary traveling paper carriage that is automatically tabulated from column to column and returned after reaching a predetermined point. The carriage includes a control plate carrying a series of magazines with control lugs for automatically controlling the numerous operations that may be controlled manually from the keyboard. The f-orward ends of these magazines strike a tabulating stop as the carriage tabulates from right to left, to repeatedly arrest the carriage in its several columnar positions. The

stop is arranged to be actuated by either of two separate controls to release the carriage from one column to the next. One of these controls is operated as an incident to each machine cycle initiated by depression of the customary motor bar. The other control is termed an Express Tab. key, which upon depression withdraws the tabulating stop from engagement with its contacting magazine and holds it in ineffective position While the carriage passes through columns it is desired to skip. This mechanism is disclosed in Patent No. 2,318,448.

Referring to Fig. 6, two paper forms I and 2 are placed in the paper carriage side by side, their lateral position with respect to the carriage control magazines 3-|2 being that shown in this figure.

With the forms in the machine, the operator first picks up the customers previous balance. the machine printing this amount in the first column on form The purchases made during the month are then listed in the second column, a Non-tabulating motor key being used for all but the last item listed, so that the items will be printed in vertical alignment. The Non-tabulating motor key construction may be similar to that disclosed in Patent No. 2,194,270. Any payment or payments that the customer has made are listed in the third column, and credit for merchandise returned is entered in the fourth column. The carriage then tabulates to an intermediate position where a blank cycle is taken preparatory to printing the customers new balance in the last column. These last two cycles are completely automatic.

The carriage then tabulates to the first column of form 2, in which column the total of purchases entered in column 2 of the first form is rinted. It will be noted from Figure 6 that magazine 4 for this first purchases column carries a stud in position I2 which causes the purchases listed to be entered into the A register. This register A is automatically totalled in the first column of the second form due to the selection of the A register by the stud in position I 2 of magazine 8 and a similar stud in magazine 9 together with a register total stud in position 6 of magazine 9. Similarly the total of the payments listed in column 3 of the left hand form and entered in register B and the total of the returns entered in register C when listed in column 4 of that form will be automatically printed as totals of these registers in the appropriate columns of the second form under control of magazines Ill and I Magazine I2 controls the printing of the balance as a total from the crossfooter.

It will be noted that in each of magazines 9, l0 and I I, a lug in position 3 non-adds the crossfooter so that the amount printed as a sub-total under control of magazine 8 is not altered when the register totals are printed. It will also be noted that each magazine I to I2 carries a lug in position It to control an automatic motor operation as the magazine moves into effective position and therefore all operation after the entering of the last amount in columns 2 to 4 of the first form are automatically initiated and controlled.

In the event a customer has made no payment during the month, or has returned no merchandise for credit, no amount would be listed in the appropriate columns of form I. It would, therefore, not be necessary for the machine to execute an operation in the corresponding column or columns of form 2. The following mechanism is provided to accomplish this result.

Skip cam slides I4 and I5 (Figs. 4, 5 and 6) quite similar to those shown in Patent No. 2,194,- 270 are provided on magazines I!) and II associated with the Payments and Returns columns of form 2 to cause the carriage to tabulate through these columns if no amount is entered in the corresponding columns of form I. These slides I4 and I5 are formed with an inclined car bent off at a right angle from their forward ends, such ear when the slide I4 or I5 is in a forward effective position, momentarily contacting a stud secured to the tabulating stop 36 to depress the stop 36 out of the path of the forward ends of magazines Ill or II as the carriage advances to the associated columnar positions. When in a rearward ineffective position, as in Figure 3, slides I4 and I5 do not contact the stud of the stop 36 which will then contact the magazine It or I I and arrest the carriage in the associated columnar position. Slides M and I5 are normally latched in their forward effective position shown in Figs. 4 and 5 by a latch I6 mounted for vertical sliding movement on the rear ends of magazines I0 and II. A spring I! connected between a stud on the latch and a guide stud I8 on the magazine holds the latch in its lower position where a stud l9 thereon lies in the path of the rear end of its skip cam slide, to normally restrain the slide spring 2!} from moving the slide to the rear.

To raise a latch It to permit its cam slide to move to ineffective position when an amount is entered in the corresponding column on form the following parts are provided. A slide 2| (Fig. 1A) is supported on a stud 22 and on the general actuator shaft 23 for horizontal movement forwardly and rearwardly in the machine. A stud 24 moving with the general actuator cooperates with a cam surface 25 on slide 2| to permit a strong spring 26 to pull slide 2| forwardly in the machine when the stud moves upwardly at the very beginning of the operation. Forward movement of slide 2| moves a lever 21 clockwise against the tension of its spring 28, and with it a lever 29 pivoted on lever 27 at 30 and having a flange 3| lying behind lever 21. This movement of lever 29 forwardly in the machine pulls a rod 32 forwardly, the rod, in turn, moving a bell crank 33 (Fig. 1B) counterclockwise and raising a plunger 34 connected thereto. Rod 32 moves bell crank 33 through a strong spring 35 that will not stretch until plunger 34 is fully operated. At the end of the operation, upon the return of stud 24 to its original position, slide 2| is cammed rearwardly and lever 21 is returned by spring 28. The weight of plunger 34 returns it and parts 29, 32, 33 and 35 to their original positions.

The lateral distance between plunger 34 and the tabulating stop 35 (Fig. 6) is equal to the distance between corresponding columns on forms I and 2, so that when the machine is cycled in the Payments and"Returns columns of form I, latches [6 on magazines I0 and H, respectively, will lie directly above plunger 34 and will be moved to their upper positions if link 21 is permitted to move forward under the influence of spring 26. Tabulating stop 36 and its operation are fully disclosed in Patent No. 2,318,448.

Since itis desired to raise a latch [6 only if an amount is entered in the corresponding column on form I, a block is provided to prevent slide 2| from moving forward unless an amount is set up on the keyboard preparatory to cycling the machine. An arm 3! (Fig. 1A) is secured to slide 21 and extends downwardly behind a slide 38 mounted on the machine frame for limited lateral movement. Depression of an Amount key causes a gate 33 (see also Fig. 2) to swing to the right, permitting a spring 40 to move slide 38 to the right its full extent, thereby placing a notch therein in line with arm 31. Slide 38 and gate 39 and their operation are fully disclosed in Patent No. 2,194,270. With slide 38 in this position, operation of the machine will permit slide 2| to move forward and when the carriage is positioned in either the Payments or Returns column of form I will raise the appropriate latch I5.

To restore a released skip cam slide to its forward or effective position, a hinged cam 4| (Figs. 5 and 6) is provided. After the carriage has completed its working stroke, and is being returned to its right-hand position, the rear end of a released skip cam slide contacts cam 4] and is forced to its forward position. Spring l1 then returns latch IE to its lower position where stud I9 becomes efiective to hold the slide.

A raised flange 42 is formed on the hinged cam 4| to permit the rear end of a released skip cam slide to raise the cam about its hinge and pass under the cam (see Fig. 3), during the working stroke of the carriage. A spring 43 returns the cam to its efiective position as soon as the slide moves past the cam.

The lateral position of the printing mechanism relative to the tabulating stop 36 and plunger 34 is shown in Fig. 6, where amount type bars 44 and the signal type bar 45 are shown diagrammatically.

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described is admirably adapted to fulfill the objects primarily stated, it is to be understood that it is not intended to confine the invention to the one form of embodiment herein disclosed, for it is susceptible of embodiment in various forms all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:

1. In an accounting machine having amount indexing mechanism, a traveling paper carriage,

means to drive the carriage through its working and return strokes, and tabulating stops on the carriage to establish columnar positions for a work sheet, the combination of a settable means mounted on the carriage and associated with one of the tabulating stops to control the effectiveness of the stop, means to adjust the said settable means, and means controlled by operation oi? the amount indexing mechanism to control the operation of the adjusting means.

2. In an accounting machine having cyclically operating power means, amount indexing mechanism, a traveling paper carriage, means to drive the carriage through its working and return strokes, a tabulating stop and stops on the carriage engageable therewith to establish columnar positions for a work sheet, the combination of a settable means, on said carriage to disable said tabulating stop and thus enable said carriage to skip a certain columnar position, an adjusting means operated by said cyclically,operating power means and operatively connected to said settable means only when the carriage isin a certain other columnar position, to adjust the said settable means to a non-disabling position and so cause the carriage to be arrested in the columnar position having the said settable means, andstop means controlled by operation of the amount indexing mechanism to control the operation of the adjusting means.

3. In an accounting machine having a general actuating mechanism, amount indexing mechanism, a traveling paper carriage, means to drive the carriage through its working and return strokes, and tabulating stops on the carriage to establish columnar positions for a work sheet, the combination of a settable means on the carriage to cause the carriage to skip a certain columnar position, an adjusting means, operated by the general actuator and eii'ective only when the machine is operated with the carriage in a certain other columnar position, to adjust the said settable means to cause the carriage to be arrested in the columnar position having the said settable means, and means controlled by operation of the amount indexing mechanism to control the operation of the adjusting means, so

that the adjusting means will be operated and the carriage thereby conditioned to be arrested in the columnar position having the settable means only following the indexing of an amount.

4. In an accounting machine having a general actuating mechanism, amount indexing mechanism, a traveling paper carriage, means to drive the carriage through its working and return strokes, and tabulating stops on the carriage to establish columnar positions for a work sheet, the combination of a settable means on the carriage to cause the carriage to skip a certain columnar position, an adjusting means, operated by the general actuator and effective only when the machine is operated with the carriage in a certain other columnar position, to adjust the said settable means to cause the carriage to be arrested in the columnar position having the said settable means, means controlled by operation of the amount indexing mechanism to control the operation of the adjusting means, so that the adjusting means will be operated and the carriage thereby conditioned to be arrested in the columnar position having the settable means only following the indexing of an amount, and means mounted on the machine frame to reset the settable means during travel of the carriage.

5. In an accounting machine having a general actuating mechanism, amount indexing mecha-.

nism, a traveling paper carriage, means to drive thecarriage through its working and return strokes, and tabulating stops on the carriage to establish columnar positions for a, work sheet, the combination of settable mechanism associated with certain of said tabulating stops to cause the carriage to skip those columnar positions associated with said certain tabulating stops, means to adjust the said settable mechanism to cause the carriage to be arrested in the columnar positions associated with the adjusted settable mechanism, and means, controlled by operation of the amount indexing mechanism, to so control the operation of the adjusting means that it will be operated only following the indexing of an amount.

- 6. In an accounting machine having a traveling paper carriage adapted to accommodate side by side two work sheets having corresponding columns, amount entering and printing mechanism, and tabulating mechanism to efiect positioning of said carriage in columnar positions during a working stroke thereof, the combination of-a column member related to a columnar position of one of said work sheets and normally effective to disable said tabulating mechanism at said columnar position thereby causing a skip tabulation of said carriage through said columnar position, setting mechanism operable when said carriage is positioned in the corresponding columnar position of the other work sheet to render ineffective said column member, cyclically operating means to operate said setting mechanism and members under control of said amount entering mechanism to prevent operation of said settingmechanism so long as no value is entered.

7-. In an accounting machine having a traveling. paper carriage adapted to accommodate side by side two work sheets having corresponding columns, amount entering and printing mecha nism including amount indexing means, and tabulating mechanism to move said carriage to and arrest it in columnar positions during a working stroke thereof, the combination of a column member normally effective to momentarily disable said tabulating mechanism at a predetermined columnar position of said carriage, thereby causing said carriage to skip tabulate. through said position, setting mechanism operable with, said carriage in the position correspondingto said predetermined columnar po sition to render ineffective said column member cyclic power means to operate. said setting mechanism, and a blocking member for said setting means, said blocking member controlled by said amount indexing means as an amount is indexed therein to release said setting mechanism for operation by said power means during a cycle thereof.

8. In an accounting machine having a traveling carriage adapted to accommodate side by side two work sheets having corresponding columns, printing mechanism, and releasable tabulating stop means for said carriage, the combination of a plurality of column stop members cooperative with said tabulating stop means to arrest the carriage in columnar positions, tabulator stop disabling means for a predetermined one of said column stop members for one work sheet to prevent arrest of said carriage in said predetermined column, cyclically controlled meansoperable when said carriage is in a corresponding column of the other work sheet to set 'sai'd stop disabling means to a nonrdisabling position amount indexing means for said printing mechanism, and means controlled thereby to render said cyclically controlled means operative when an amount is indexed therein.

9. An accounting machine as recited in claim 8 including a restoring member relatively movable with respect to said tabulator stop disabling means and operative during the return movement of said carriage to return said disablingmeans to an effective position.

10. In an accounting machine having a trav eling paper carriage adapted to accommodate side by side two work sheets having corresponding columns, amount printing and entering mechanism, and tabulating stop members for said carriage, the combination of members on said carriage engageable by said tabulating stopmembers to arrest said carriage in columnar positions during a working stroke, means normally efiective to prevent arrest of said carriage in certain columns of one of said work sheets, and

normally restrained means operable when said carriage is positioned in a columnar position wlth respect to one work sheet to disable said normally effective means and thereby enable ening columns, amount printing and entering mechanisrn, and a tabulating stop member, the combination of members on said carriage engageable by said tabulating stop member to arrestsaid carriage in columnar positions during a working stroke, carriage carried members normally effective to momentarily disable saidtabulating stop member and cause a skip tabulation of said carriage through the associated columnar positions of one work sheet, cyclically operable means controlled by said printing and entering mechanism to operate when a value has. been entered and mechanism operated thereby when the carriage is in a columnar position of the other work sheet to render the carriage carried member for the corresponding columnar position of said one work sheet ineffective to cause skip tabulation of said carriage through its associated columnar position.

v 12. In an accounting machine having a general actuating mechanism, amount indexing mechanism, a traveling paper carriage, means to drive the carriage through its working and return strokes, a tabulating stop, column stops on said carriage engageable therewith to determine columnar positions for a work sheet, the combination of settable members operatively associated with certain of said carriage column stops and each normally effective to prevent engagement of said tabulating stop with the associated column stop, an adjusting means for said settable members movable relatively thereto and operable to shift a settable member engaged thereby to an ineffective position, a blocking member for said adjusting means, said blocking member releasing said adjusting means upon operation of said amount indexing means whereby a settable member will be shifted to an ineffective position upon the printing of an indexed amount only in a predetermined column to enable arrest of said carriage in a corresponding column and stationary means toreset any settable member.

after the carriage has stopped in the column associated therewith.

13. In an accounting machine having power means, amount indexing mechanism, a traveling paper carriage, means to drive the carriage through its Working and return strokes, a shiftable tabulating stop and columnar stops on said carriage to establish columnar positions for a work sheet, the combination of a settable means on said carriage, said means in one columnar position normally engaging said tabulating stop to shift said stop out of the path of said columnar stop for said one position, and thereby prevent arrest of said carriage at said one columnar position, an adjusting means operable by said power means and engageable with said settable means in another columnar position of said carriage to set said settable means to another position wherein it is not engageable with said tabulating stop, thereby enabling said stop to arrest said carriage at said one columnar position, a blocking member to prevent operation of said adjusting means, and a means controlled by said amount indexing mechanism as an amount is indexed therein to move said blocking member to a position free of said adjusting member.

14. In an accounting machine having cycling mechanism, amount indexing mechanism, a traveling paper carriage, means to drive the carriage through its working and return strokes, a

a tabulating stop and stops on the carriage engageable therewith to establish columnar positions for a work sheet, the combination of a settable means on the carriage and associated with one of said columnar positions, said settable means normally positioned to engage said tabulating stop at said one columnar position and shift it to a non-engaging position with respect to said carriage carried stops, means operable by said cycling mechanism and engageable with said settable means only in another columnar position of said carriage to adjust said settable means to position free of said tabulating stop to enable said tabulating stop to engage said carriage stop at said one columnar position, means controlled by said amount indexing mechanism when no amount is indexed therein to prevent operation of said adjusting means and means to reset said settable means to a normal tabulating stop engaging position.

WILLIAM H. VON HACI-IT.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,932,220 Kottmann Oct. 24, 1933 1,942,216 Muller Jan. 2, 1934 2,084,519 Anderson June 22, 1937 2,194,270 Sundstrand Mar. 19, 1940 2,209,240 Sundstrand July 23, 1940 2,226,960 Anderson Dec. 31, 1940 2,255,557 Anderson Sept. 9, 1941 2,318,448 Anderson May 4, 1943 2,356,429 Rauh Aug. 22, 1944 

